THIS WEEK
The LMU baseball program will begin the 2014 campaign this weekend when it welcomes Utah Valley to Page Stadium for a three-game non-conference series...Friday's 6 PM game will be the first night game played at Page Stadium, which is in its 32nd season as the home of the Lions after hosting its first games in 1983...Saturday and Sunday's games against the Wolverines will be contested at 1 PM...

TICKET PACKAGES ON SALE
With the LMU baseball season upon us, now is the time to purchase your season tickets to be a part of all the action...the 2014 season will be the first played under the lights at Page Stadium, and fans can purchase season ticket packages starting for as low as $1 per game...using LMU's new online ticket system at LMULions.com/tickets, fans can now purchase season and individual game tickets online at home before coming to the ballpark...the $30 General Admission season ticket scarf allows access to general admission seating on the third or first base line at Page Stadium...fans wishing to reserve their seat at Page Stadium also have the option of purchasing the Reserved Seating Season Ticket for just $60 - just $2 per game this season...reserved Seating is located behind home plate in the seat-back chairs...in addition to coming with the limited edition LMU scarf, the Reserved Seating Season Ticket comes with a nameplate that can be affixed to any available seat for the entire year at Page Stadium...for fans looking to attend single games throughout the season, the online ticket system can also be used to purchase individual game tickets...individual game tickets start at $8 for an adult and $6 for children and seniors (55+)...children with an LMU camp t-shirt or youth sport uniform jersey receive a free general admission ticket...

LION TRACKS
LMU finished the 2013 season with a 24-27 overall record and a 12-12 mark in the West Coast Conference to place sixth overall...the Lion pitching staff managed the best ERA in LMU program history, boasting a 3.17 mark behind Colin Welmon (2.30) and Patrick McGrath (2.43)...easily the most impressive single-pitcher outing of the year, Matt Florer tossed the second LMU no-hitter in program history on April 23 against Cal State Northridge...Colton Plaia highlighted a list of seven Lion baseball players named to the West Coast Conference All-Conference teams, taking home a first team selection and the 2013 WCC Defensive Player of the Year award...for Plaia, the first team selection was his second in as many years, while the Defensive Player of the Year award was the first earned by an LMU player...in addition to Plaia, LMU also garnered two other first team selections, as right-hander Aaron Griffin and righty Colin Welmon also found a spot on the first team...four other Lions earned a spot on the honorable mention team, including David Edwards, Patrick McGrath, Zac Fujimoto and Cullen Mahoney...LMU had two players selected in the 2013 MLB Draft, as the Tampa Bay Rays selected Griffin in the 10th round (308th overall) on Friday before Plaia became the second Lion player drafted in the 2013 MLB Draft on Saturday, selected in the 15th round (446th overall) by the New York Mets...

PICKED BEFORE THE PITCH
Junior right-hander Colin Welmon was tabbed preseason All-WCC prior to the start of the 2014 campaign...serving as LMU's Friday starter, Welmon pitched to a 5-4 record and a team-best 2.30 ERA with 64 strikeouts over 12 starts and 78.1 innings of work...Welmon held opponents to a .223 average against while posting one complete game and having his hand in a pair of shutouts...the Tustin, Calif. native went 3-2 with a 3.20 ERA over seven starts against WCC teams...

SURVEY SAYS
The LMU baseball team, led by sixth-year head coach Jason Gill, was picked to finish fourth in the competitive West Coast Conference based on a poll of the 10 conference head coaches...San Diego, which received six of the 10 first-place votes, topped the conference poll for the seventh straight year, earning 76 points...three other teams also received at least one first-place vote, with San Francisco claiming two, and Pepperdine and BYU earning one apiece...the Waves were a slight favorite to claim second, taking home 68 points, followed by San Francisco (66) and the Lions...

ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNERS
LMU returns three players who received All-WCC recognition at the end of the 2013 season, including first-teamer Colin Welmon and honorable mention selections in Patrick McGrath and David Edwards...serving as LMU's Friday starter, Welmon pitched to a 5-4 record and a team-best 2.30 ERA with 64 strikeouts over 12 starts and 78.1 innings of work...Edwards hit .284 in WCC play, collecting 12 runs scored, four doubles, a triple and a homer to the tune of a team-high 14 RBI...he was 10-for-11 in stolen bases in WCC play, and finished 16-for-21 for the year...McGrath emerged as one of the most consistent starters for the Lions after beginning the year as the midweek starter and eventually earning a spot in the weekend rotation...the right-hander posted a 5-2 record with a 2.43 ERA over 12 starts and 14 appearances...in WCC play, McGrath went 3-1 with a 1.38 ERA in four starts, holding opponents to a .193 average and notching 29 strikeouts...

LOTS OF HOME COOKING
Entering its 32nd season as the home of Lion baseball in 2014, George C. Page Stadium will also begin a new era of play - the first season played under the lights...the 2014 LMU baseball schedule features 30 of its 52 games played at home, including 19 under the lights at Page Stadium...the Lions will not play a non-conference road weekend series during the regular season this year, instead hosting Utah Valley, Northern Kentucky, and Oregon and Utah from the Pac-12 Conference...the Lions, who have posted a 497-374-4 (.570) overall record in the park's 31 seasons, have claimed five conference titles while calling Page Stadium home...the first Page Stadium conference title came in 1986, when the Lions posted a 24-8 record at home...the best record came in 1988, when LMU was 30-5 at home (.857)...

WATCH IT LIVE ONLINE
LMU Athletics will video stream all home baseball games this year through Lion's All-Access...the video stream is free of charge, and will be accompanied by an audio play-by-play broadcast...all road games will once again feature an audio play-by-play broadcast, and links to those broadcasts can be found on the LMU baseball schedule page...to view the video stream, please visit http://tinyurl.com/LMU-All-Access...

@BASEBALLLMU ON TWITTER
For fans, scouts, parents and players who are interested in following LMU baseball even closer this year, LMU baseball assistant coach Bryant Ward is tweeting under the handle @BaseballLMU...to get the inside look at LMU baseball from the coaching perspective, make sure to follow @BaseballLMU on Twitter...

SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
Utah Valley enters the 2014 season picked to finish fourth in its first season played in the Western Athletic Conference...the Wolverines finished 24-30 last year in the Great West Conference, but did win the Great West regular season and tournament titles in three of the four years of the league's existence...senior RHP Andrew Freter is scheduled to get the starting nod for the Wolverines on Opening Day after posting a 3-3 record and a 6.49 ERA in 12 appearances and 11 starts as a junior...sophomore righty Danny Beddes will pitch Saturday after notching a 2-2 record and a 6.83 ERA a year ago over the course of 13 appearances and seven starts...senior Devin Nelson will get the ball in the finale after going 4-5 with a 3.55 ERA in 17 appearances and 15 starts in 2013...senior Riley White and sophomore Mark Krueger return for the Wolverines offensively in 2014 after garnering second team All-GWC honors a year ago...Utah Valley is led by fifth-year head coach Eric Madsen...

PICK UP WHERE I LEFT OFF
Six Lion baseball players carry a hitting streak from 2013 into the 2014 campaign, while seven carry over reached-base streaks...senior Kevin Garcia has hit safely in his last two games, while a handful of Lions have hit safely in their last contest...Garcia and junior David Edwards have each reached safely in three straight games...

ALL IN THE FAMILY
Junior Tanner Donnels, redshirt junior Kevin Glomb and freshman Tim Peabody all have family ties to LMU, as Donnels' father, Chris, played baseball at LMU and was part of LMU's 1986 World Series team before being selected in the first round of the 1987 draft by the New York Mets and embarking on a eight-year MLB career...Chris Donnels is LMU's all-time leader in slugging percentage (.650), home runs (45) and RBI (225), setting the LMU single-season records for home runs (21) and RBI (91) in 1986...Donnels' mother and grandfather also attended LMU...Glomb's brother, Michael, played baseball for LMU from 2004-08, while his sister played volleyball at LMU in 2005...Peabody's mother, Nadine, played softball at LMU, while his uncle, Tom, was a member of LMU's 1989-90 Elite Eight men's basketball team...

GETTING AHEAD OF THE PAC
Boasting the last two NCAA Champions in UCLA and Arizona, the Pac-12 is a strong baseball conference that LMU will see quite a bit of in 2014...the Lions are scheduled to play 11 games against teams from the Pac-12, including three apiece against Oregon, UCLA and Utah...the Lions played 11 games against the Pac-12 last season, including the first seven of the year, finishing 4-7 overall...

JOURNEY TO THE TOURNEY
For the second consecutive year, the West Coast Conference will hold a WCC Championship Tournament at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton, Calif. from May 22-24 to decide who will claim the WCC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament...the top-four teams will compete in the tournament, with the #1 seed facing #4 and #2 facing #3 in first-round play...the tournament is double elimination until the championship game on Saturday, where the winner earns the automatic bid...

LIONS IN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL
Two former Lion baseball players were active in Major League Baseball last season, as C.J. Wilson (Los Angeles Angels) and Ryan Wheeler (Colorado Rockies) played on the game's biggest stage...including Wilson and Wheeler, 10 former LMU baseball players were active in professional baseball last season...the Lions have had more than 115 players drafted by Major League Baseball teams in program history, including 25 players in the last 10 years...Billy Traber and Chris Donnels are the lone Lions to be selected in the first round, interestingly both selected by the Mets...Traber went 16th overall in 2000, while Donnels was taken with the 24th pick in 1987...including Traber and Donnels, LMU has had 20 players taken in the first five rounds of a MLB draft...LMU's best draft came in 2000, as a Lion was taken in each of the first three rounds - Traber went in the first, followed by Michael Schultz in the second, and Scott Walter in the third...for a list of current Lions playing in professional baseball, please visit:
http://tinyurl.com/7taglqf